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BeautifulMag #131 Week 07-08 | Near Hit

EDITORS LETTER

Next weekend, or to be more precise on February 15, an asteroid
will pass our planet. That by itself is not so special. After all,
numerous asteroids have passed Earth in the past and will be passing us
in the future. However, this rock is going to pass us relatively close.
In fact it will pass us at a distance of about 21,000 miles (35,000 km).
It seems like quite a distance but if you know that the moon orbits us
at 240,000 miles distance, it all of a sudden comes pretty close by.
This particular asteroid is small. It has an estimated diameter of 50
meters, which isn’t enough to destroy the Earth but big enough to
flatten a city if it would decide to hit at the wrong place.

So
this asteroid is going to pass at a distance that is not troubling and
with a size too small to see with the naked eye. So what’s the big deal?
Nothing really you might say. Millions of asteroids and meteors have
passed Earth since the beginning of time. Some of them hit us and even
though we are aware of it, the impact is nothing to worry about. But we
also know that bigger ones have collided with our planet in the past,
resulting in some devastating changes in climate and environment. The
possibility you win a million dollar lottery is more likely, but
nevertheless, the chance it happens is there and will always be there.
And that makes you wonder, doesn’t it. The petty differences we have,
the stupid disagreements and conflicts based on religions, traditions
and conservative ideas. On
February 2 2013 the French National Assembly approved the marriage
equality law with 249 votes against 97. A generous victory that was
quite surprising if you know what happened before it came to the actual
voting. Several manifestations took place, both pro and con. France is a
laical state, which means it does not favor any religion. So it was
quite surprising to see that the opposition in this battle was led and
fed by the Church. Even more so, for the first time several different
religions were able to – temporarily – forget about their differences
and combine forces to stop the unholy and unnatural legal bonding of
same sex partners and prevent them from raising children. As I said
before, petty differences and disagreements based on religious,
traditional and conservative thinking.

The Asteroid
2012 DA14 is going to pass Earth on February 15 2013. Its journey brings
it close to Earth but not close enough for us to worry. DA14 is
following an orbit that will bring it back in close range in 2020. But
again, it will pass at safe distance. However, an asteroids orbit is not
as predictable as a planet’s. And one day one might hit us. Or a major
earthquake will destroy parts of our environment. Or a volcanic eruption
will block the sun and create a nuclear winter. All things we simply
cannot control. If it happens, it happens. What we can control however
is our attitude towards each other. What we can do is try to be more
tolerate, have respect for each others choices and open our minds to
more liberal and more progressive ideas. If we could do that, than at
least in the time we can still use this planet, we can all enjoy a
little bit of happiness.–BM-